Light It Up
by Bizzy
Summary: He had mastered the art of controlling the flames, which left him with one final problem: how to create a spark. Pre-series.


A/N: I don't own, just borrowing! This is just a little exploration of the days before Mustang takes the state alchemy exam. The only spoiler is so incredibly vague you'd pretty much have to know it already to catch it! Enjoy!

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><p>Roy Mustang knew he could master the art of flame alchemy. It was just going to take some time.<p>

Once he had mastered drawing the alchemical array, it had been a matter of developing the skill to manipulate the chemical reaction. If decoding his teacher's array had been difficult, mastering manipulation of the elements to control the flames felt downright impossible. It took him the better part of a month to develop something that even resembled decent control, and the state alchemist exam was nearly upon him when he'd decided his control of the flames was enough to sit for it.

Which left him with one final problem: how to create the spark.

He had practiced with the flint of a lighter and an array drawn on the ground when he started. This progressed to an array drawn on the lighter, but the circle needed to be etched into the side and was hard to get exactly right. He'd debated tattooing the array on the back of his hand, but he found he didn't like the idea of broadcasting the skill quite so openly. Thus came the idea of the gloves: he could sew well enough to embroider the array into the fabric.

He proceeded to spend hours meticulously embroidering the small red array into the fabric of a plain white glove, only to realize he didn't have the traction to reliably strike the flint of the lighter to create a spark. Furthermore, he wasn't comfortable requiring both the glove and a lighter—without both items, he couldn't create flames. The glove had been a good idea because the array was easy enough to stitch into the fabric with practice. The flint worked well for creating a spark. As two separate items, however, they became an unreliable failure.

It was back to the drawing board, but with the exam just a few days away, he was starting to worry.

It wasn't until the night before the exam that the idea struck him. If the glove and the lighter would work well if they were a single item, he simply needed to create the material.

He diligently took apart several lighters, leaving him with several flints, and then took the two gloves he had embroidered with the alchemical array. It was a painfully simple transmutation, and he wondered why the idea hadn't occurred to him sooner. The newly-created fabric was rough, but he could tell it would create a spark if he could rub it together just right.

It started with rubbing the gloves together to create a spark. It worked, but he had very little control and it was tedious to clap and rub his hands together. It was also painfully obvious that he was doing a transmutation. Most importantly, it left the flames originating close to his face. _Very_ close to his face.

Not satisfactory.

It was 0400 hours when the idea struck him. _Snap_.

The entire glove was made of the flint-laden cloth. All he had to do was _snap his fingers_. It was such a simple solution that he chided himself for not coming up with it far sooner.

Until he realized snapping while wearing a pair of gloves was far more difficult than it looked.

Though the fabric was rough, it didn't easily provide the friction for him to snap. He sat in the field for what felt like hours, struggling to find the exact amount of pressure required to create a spark while allowing his fingers to actually move. Around 0600, he was starting to nod off when he somehow managed to find the combination that created a spark. He nearly set his pants on fire in the process, the sudden flash of light waking him right up.

He jumped to his feet with renewed determination, stretching his arm as far away from his torso as he could, staring at his fingertips. This _had_ to work. Eyes narrowed, he snapped. A flame roared to life in front of him, and he couldn't help but grin.

"And _that_ is how you get your state alchemist certification, Mustang," he said quietly to himself before he tucked the glove into his pocket. The exam was in a little over an hour. He had just enough time to grab some coffee.


End file.
